Pontoon diver



4 sheetsheet l i. A

PONTooN DIVER Filed May 1S. 1929 w i --i| M n .ww ...mf v

INVENTOR 5oz/E 5,4115- BY I ATz-ORNEYS July 2f, 1'1931. SALTER 13815680PONTOON DIVER Filed May 15. 192s 4 sheets-sheet 2 L, 5.5. /E SAL refr. BY

A TTORNE YS.

July 21, 1931. SALTER 1,815,680

l PoNTooN DIVER .Filed May 15, 1929 4 sheets-sheet s :Ii-13 5 INVENTOR LESL/E SALTEE,

l/lMM'M, F6 of' A TTORNE YS.

l Y y laiented Myra-1,1931 Y f t y UNI-Teo LEsLIE saLtrniz,` on VALLEJO,CALIFORNIA PONTYQONDIVER l A `Application filedr May 15.,

i The presenty invention relates to improvements 1n means for raisingsubmerged boats,

such as submarines oreven"larger boats,

t that `have met with any accident and the t5 principal objectofftheinvention is to provide a means of `vthe character'l described!which allows theboat to `be raised in a single operation that'ma-y beperformed possibly within a fewY hours` so that HJche livesoftheoccupant's l0 of the submerged boat may be saved.

raised. v f f v p c c* l 5A further object ofthe inventionl is to vprofy(vide, in'combination with said floating unit, grippingy members whichmaybe made to straddle the boat while the float isjswinging intooperative position land to closer upon the boat for gripping'thefsameafterthe'floatf Y ing unit has beenloweredso that when the ylatter is'raisedthe boat' willbe raised with the floating unit. y t f ji ,"It .isfurtherproposed inthe presenty ing vention to usethe principlefof thepontoon for lowering and raising the floating unit,` the pontoons rbeingfilled with waterV for the pur- Ypose of lowering the float, and meansbeing is desired,y to raise the floating unit. f ,y ffOther objects andVadvantages of my inventionwill appear ceedS. c

VThe preferred y f yillustratedY in theaccomp'anying drawings, in

^ Figure 1 shows'a'side elevation ofvmy boatralising means as the sameis positioned above the correct position relative tothe boatto beprovided for ydriving loutthe water whenitA as the specification pro-,forms offmy-invention are l 1329.4'sera1 No. 363,333. f

a submerged boat at the beginning of the operation,

Figure 2 shows the clingfthe boat; y v .n y VFigure 3 shows a plan viewof the float en- 55 floating unit as encir- "circling the boat to beraised,

t Figure 4 is an enlarged sectionalview taken alongthe line 4 4 ofkFigure 3,'

Figure 5 is ahori'zontal section taken along the line 5 5 ofrFigure 4, yy. Y

Figure 6 is a vertical section showing a modified form of grippingmeans,

Figure 17 'is a vertical section taken `along f the line 7 7 of Figure6. 1

forms of my invention, I wish to haveituny derstood that various changesor modifications maybe made within the scope of the claims heretoattached without departing from the spirit of the invention.

- In the' form shown in Figures l to 5, Iprovide a huge, oating body lwhich maybe Y Y made of any suitable shape and is preferably constructedin such aV manner as to leave' a large vinner opening or well indicatedat 2 '75 of such proportionsthat the boat to be raised,

which isindicated at 3,'may be encircled by Y the floatingvunit. ,Y

This unit maybe made in the form of a frame or inthe form of a shell sothat the en- S0 tire unit would form a single pontoon. It` may, however,be provided with a number f of individual' pontoons -indicated at 4, andin the latter casel no attention need be paid to makingv the ioatingunit water-tight; in fact, i side plates may be done away with altofgether, andr theindividual pontoons 4 supported ina'y strong frame only.ASuitable means areprovided in a flexible hose 5 for admitting apressure medium into the pontoons i 'i 'i for driving theV water out ofthe same, and

` suitable discharge ports for the ywatercare indicated atp. Thestructuralfeatures of the vpontoonsare conventionalin character and formno part of the present invention.

Vi'thin the well there'are supported'on strong cross members 7 asuitable number of gripping jaws kadapted to encircle the f boat `tonfberaised and to' lift the same when the p o, iioat rises.. Each set ofgripping elernentsln y While I have shown only thepreferred 65 consistsof three jaws 10 pivoted on a longitudinal shaft 8 supported in one ofthe frame members 7, one jaw being made to engagethe boat from one sideand the other tWo jaws being made to straddle the first jaw and toengage the boat from the opposite side. The lower ends o f the jaws,below the pivot 8, are made to substantially confor-in fte the shape oftheboat to be lifted. The j avvs terminate at the bottom inpointed endsshown at 1'1 and these pointed `ends lare adapted 'to fbe' pushedthrough the mud and are formed With shoulders 12 near the pointed ends-for -engagingwith the duct keel 13 of tlieboat tobe raised fromopposite sidesso thata-fter'engagementit .isinipossible for `the j aWs.to lose their" ho'l'd. Y`Water*j ets 11 maybe proiiided 2.11? the`-points of the jaws for facilitating movement through 4clay and-.m.a.'y be `fed p through pipesnot shown in the drawing.

`Forvlocking thethree jaws in .their :boatgripping positiomlrprovidefthe bridging ,gomeloclzed in'ithei-groove. A cable A2O may be provid-edforliftingthe vbridge ..141 5to allow f the jaws to beopened. Y I y Y5;: .'lv-ojprevent `the yboat* f-roinyrocking Within thejawmsuiftable'Wed-'ge blocks may be slidl a-blyvlnountedonithe [inner faces ofthekframe foreoperatien fromabover-by':means`l of :chains oratlieiliilregflhe .upper ends of the aWs are intcizcennectedfbyinreansfofsa cylinder21pm-- otedbetW-eenfthe double ,jawsanda connectv ing rod 22 pivoted tothe single-jaw 'and havinga fpiston .-23 riding/in the cylinder'. fSuitagbfleyrneafnsg aregprlovideld iin @the tubes 24 .f and 25foradin-ittingyair yunderi-pressu're JEfthroug'h the l:cylinder lfreniopposite :sides -whereby 1the f vjavvsnfnay'floeapushedapar-t or drawntogether respectively 't yshould be liinderstood Athat other' 'suitablemeans be used ffor i the j ourpose ,of operatingthe j aWs,v` Aand thatparticularly hy draiilic; means might `loe found ivellaclapted 'forthispurpose.

y IQf centering the' r'floating unit relative to hebogatsubmerged in the.WaterQIeprefcrably BSc buoi-Is 2)6fgconected Withthe .front andthesternfof the Qboatthroug-h ropes or cables2'?.

` Bnoysof hischanacterareprovidedon submarines-fa @present-time, and-theposition Orf@ liciboatfmayzbe ascertained thereby;l i 'My floatififfinitd-s :irst .farranged i. relative fto :the

beat sotlrat 'tavoabuoys v:would be confined n tvitl'iifn the uw ellv ofi oating V"runt, vvhich `would"iindicatetlnatithe foating unit liesicl-if rectly over the boat and that if sunk in a straight line it Willencircle the boat.

For guiding the Hoat, I provide a number of chains v28, preferably four,one in front andl one in the rear and tvvo on the sides.

These chains are suitably Wound onvvvinches 29 and A,pass through havvsel pipes 30 -passing vertically ,through the float. They have anchorsBlpreferably of the mushroom type secured'to their lower ends, and Iprovide mun-ber fofzbnoys Aitil-iat may be fastenedY to their upperendsafter a desired amount of filiali-ibas been unreeled.

invention as thus far described operatesas-follo-Ws. As soon as neWs ofthe which he locates the submarine and then t tows the :Heat .in placesothat thebuoys 26 are confined .Within the well, which indicates that,the float lies .directly over the :sugbmerged .boat in such a mannerthat 'fsunk the .float will .encircle `the' boat. Neat .the anchors larel.dropped .Ybyfunreeling fthe 'iifi'nchesQfQ until fthe anchors reachaplace the saine distance above the bottoni of Uthe sea as the surfaceof the ioat is above the surface `ofthe sea. When jthe anchors are inthisposi'tion, which is .indicated ,in .full lines k,in rFigure r1, each.chain is sepa-rated from its Winch and ,attached rto :a vbuoy :shown at32. lNext1-the float zis lowered by letting Water into the pontoons7care being taken that at this time thegjavvsfareinlopen position `-soxas lto clear the `boat on opposite sides When the Fica-t Vsini-rs.Ail/,Vhile.thefloatwslowly submerges, the l anchors 31 l:keep :sinkingVwith the float funtilfthe surface lofthe :oat reaches the levelfoftheWater,;at Whichtime thefan.- chers are firmly ,inbedded ainthebottomwogf the sea. As ,the fioat `sinks `still* further, .the buoys 32take the load ofthe anchor chains so that `the latter are held tautbetweentthe buoys andgthereanchors `and vserve as a lguide means for thedescending float.l The buoys are V'partially*filled with Waterso'that'if the chains are'notftaut enough the Water can be Vblown outWith air.A lVt-should be particularly Aobserved that even if the *floatshould drift slightly; due to a slight drifting lof thebuoys "by thetime fit descends-toward the `bottom Iit will `reach thecorreetVposition due to the fact that the anchors cannot 'nuove "5 under fthe:influence-0f ocean currents.

Thus the float assumesaazp'osition in which it encircles the sunken boatapproXimatel-y4 as :shown Fin :Figure 4. dlt Wil-l be 5seen Afrom thisfigure that as fthe bottom .ofg-thflfflt He forces air into the pontoons,whereby the reaches the bottomof the water, the points of the jaws aresubstantially on a level with the bottomoffthe floatf'andthat theoperation of lthe jaws will cause Ythe latter to work through the mudandto reach a depth sub-y stantially below'th'efbottom of the float so asto'be sure to 'get-below the' bottom of the boat evenif'the latter hasdugy itself into the rbottom of the sea. f

VNext, the operator causesl'air to kenter into the cylinder 2l wherebythe upper ends ofvk Vthe jaws are pulled togetherand the lower ends arebroughty together into gripping engagement with the bottom'of theboat tobe lifted. VlfVhen the end position is'reached,

the jaws are Vfirmly locked by the bridging member 14. f

Now the operator is ready to lift the boat.

water is driven out of the rsame and whereby ythe combined weight of thefloat andthe boat is reduced soasto be less than thatl of the amount ofwater displaced by their combined'volumes when the entire unit willgradually rise tothe surface of they water and thence may be towedv toany place del i rsired, preferably to a drydock.

verse rod 33 suitably supported in the iioaty and formed with oppositethreads p 34 on` Vwhich nuts 36 are made rkto ride, the nuts beingpivoted to the jaws as shownat 38. The ,rod 34 has 'a central pinion 39thereon which Y In the form shown yin Figures 6 and 7 ,'a differentoperating means is provided kfor the jaws lO, the same, comprising atransmeshes with angear wheel 4l adaptedto lbe rotated by anysuitable'powery indicated at 42.' It will be seen'that when the gearwheel through the pinionl 39 to the rod 33, which causes the 'nuts 36to', be moved inwardly or f outwardly, as the case ymay be, forseparating or drawing togetherrthe jaws .10. In other respects, thestructurey shown in Figures v6 and 7 is similar to ,thatV previouslydisclosed.

' 'It will thus be seen that with the aid of my apparatus a submergedboat may be readily j and quickly raised without theaid of a diver.yThis allows operations to be carried on at greater depthsthan'was'possible heretofore,

it being well known that human divers cannot go further than about 200feet below the Ysurface of the waterwhile pontoons can go 500-feetwithout collapsing.` v

As a precaution against storms, I use two or more air or hydrauliccylinders, placed at each end` of the pontoon diver where the submarine:rises up 0E the mud. These cylinders are fastened to the bottom insideof the pontoon diver and pushfa large square girder in a slide,`acrossfundergthe bottom of the submarine, where it isv the highest outof the mud, throughr another slide in' the opposite side of the pontoon,so asto lift the submarine. f

j IV claim: f

kl. In means for raising a submerged boat, a floatingunit having meansfor gripping the boat in a single operation, means for lowering andraising the same, operating means s for both of said means disposedoutside of said floating unit, and guide means for the funit supportedby the same while it is floating and freeing itself automatically astheunit sinks. e p f j 2.y A device for raising submerged boats comprisinga normally oatable unit, means for submerging the unit and for raisingit, boat-gripping means carriedby the unit,V guide members for the unit,buoys secured to the upper ends of saidmembers and normally resting onthe unit when the latter is floating,

anchors suspended from the lower ends of said members and embeddingthemselves in the sea bottom during the initial lowering of the unit,whereupon the buoys will support said members when the unit submerges.

SQA device for raising submerged boats comprising a normally floatableunit, means for submerging the unit and for raising it,

41 revolves, rotary motion is [imparted

